U.S. Army Parachute Team wins World Championship

Photo By Donna Dixon | Soldiers assigned to the U.S. Army Parachute Team, Golden Knight’s 8-way Formation Skydiving Team perform during the 22nd Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Formation Skydiving World Championship, while representing the United States of America, Sep. 14, in Ottawa, Illinois.  

OTTAWA, IL, UNITED STATES

09.28.2016

Story by Donna Dixon 

U.S. Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights

For the 8-way team, this victory represents their third straight world title, topping the silver medal winners by 40 points, in a fierce competition among 38 countries and over 700 skydivers. The team also won Gold for the 10-round competition, and achieved an unofficial world record, scoring the highest point 239 in that discipline in the history of the World Championships.
Meanwhile, the Female 4-way Team won its first World Championship title, following a close battle with the three-time defending champion French women's team. Victory for the Golden Knights culminates a six year rivalry with the French.
Sgt. 1st Class Laura Daivis said, “We did not start as World Champions. GKF4 started at the bottom but we worked hard, really hard. We trained above and beyond the mission, we pushed through the pain and gave it our all. We each individually knew that we weren't training for ourselves, we were training for each other, for GKF4 and for the Army as a whole.”

The U.S. 8-way team consists of Golden Knight team members Sgts. 1st Class Sean Sweeney, Josh Coleman, Kurt Isenbarger, Matt Davidson, Andrew Starr, Justin Blewitt, Larry Miller, Jeshua Stahler, David Flynn, and Ryan Ray.
The U.S. Female 4-way team includes Golden Knight team members Sgts. 1st Class Dannielle Woosley, Laura Davis, Jen Davidson, Scott Janise, and Staff Sgt. Sherri Jo Gallagher.

These team members add to the long list of record setting champions the U.S. Army Parachute Team has produced. Over its 57 year history, the competition teams have earned 460 National Championship medals, more than 100 World Championship medals, 32 National team titles, 10 World team titles and broken nearly 350 parachuting World Records.

-30-
Serving under the United States Army Marketing and Research Group and the United States Army Accessions Support Brigade, the Golden Knights are stationed at the home of the Airborne, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The team has a threefold mission; “Support the Army’s marketing and recruiting mission by performing live parachute demonstrations in front of millions of Americans and telling the Army story around the world; conduct tandem jumps for centers of influence as part of the Army’s strategic outreach program; compete and win in national and international parachuting competitions exhibiting the “Warrior Ethos;” provide technical expertise in support of military free fall programs; and further parachuting research and development to enhance the Army's overall combat readiness.”

By SFC Matthew Davidson

• Date Taken: 09.28.2016
• Date Posted: 11.09.2016 12:36
• Story ID: 214263
• Location: OTTAWA, IL, US